Monitoring & evaluating Aboriginal tobacco control

Tobacco smoking is a major public health problem for Indigenous (and other) Australians. Tobacco smoking is more than twice as common amongst Indigenous people as other Australians: 50% of Indigenous people aged 18 years and more are daily smokers. However, we do not know whether current Indigenous tobacco control activities are making an impact on smoking.  

Phase two will commence later, in July 2007, and run until February 2009. Commencement of phase two will depend on acceptable progress of phase one. Funding of phase two has been sought separately from NHMRC, on advice from the CRCAH. If unsuccessful, we would seek this funding from CRCAH. This project will attempt to establish a sustainable and unobtrusive monitoring and feedback system using tobacco consumption data from remote community stores and six-monthly audits of tobacco control. We will use this data to describe both local trends in tobacco consumption to better inform the public health response to Indigenous tobacco smoking and to provide the framework for future evaluations of tobacco control activities.